Photos et lettres des Philippines, de France et d'ailleurs

After our trip to Leyte, October arrived very quickly and already my wife Dhana would be soon on her way back to France. We had just time to meet some friends and to go to the invitation of the family of our caretaker couple and on October 10, she was leaving to Manila and to Paris the following day.

(Lunch at the Casablanca restaurant)

(The birthday party at our housekeepers family)

(She is 4 years old)

On October 8, as Dhana wanted to say goodbye to friends whose new house is not far from ours, I scratched my shin with a corner of a low table. I just applied on the wound a little alcohol and Iodine then I forgot about it. A week later, my leg was swollen and painful to the point that even the weight of a bed sheet was painful. It was not the first time I hurt myself and I have had some wounds here in the Philippines but this time the infection was rapid and virulent.

(James and I, it is here that I hurt my leg)

Consequently, I went for my first visit to my doctor whose office is located in the premises of the private hospital Holy Child. She began by prescribing antibiotics and nursing for seven days. A week later, the infection was still present although halted. Therefore, I went to visit my doctor again and this time she gave me antibiotics that were more powerful for five days. The following week the infection had regressed but was still present so I just continued for another five days with the same antibiotics. Again, the infection had decreased but the wound had not healed yet. Therefore, I went to the hospital for the fourth time and my physician changed my antibiotics again for a further period of five days.
Today forty-five days after I scratched my leg, the wound is not yet completely closed and I still put a bandage during daytime though I hope, now for just a short period. I do not know what kind of bacteria I got but I am no longer willing to overlook a new injury even minimal in a tropical country.

After Dana's departure, I was also invited in the south of Cebu Island by my old friend Roland who at the age of 80 years old is still building a new boat.

(The boat Roland is now building)

Before leaving France, my son had given me a mission to his future site of E-Commerce, the research of textile products suppliers in the Philippines. He told me that it was difficult to work with China without a local correspondent and that they were never sure of the quality and conformity of the product they would receive. Consequently, he wanted, rather trade in the country of origin of his mother and besides I was there six months a year.

Obviously, it would be even easier to manufacture in France, but that is another story or History of a time the oldest can remember where we had a myriad of textile factories in the Lille-Roubaix-Tourcoing region where even workers from Belgium were hired. Although the main labor was the females from the coalfield, area who already at the age of 14 years old got up at 3 am to start working at 5 am till 1 pm while their men went down the pit. It was not at the time of Emile Zola and his novel Germinal, but in…1960.
Anyway, let us go back to the Philippines and my research for clothing manufacturers.
Outside Manila, I expected to find my happiness in Cebu city, especially in the economy zone of ​​Mactan.
Cebu city is not more than 150 kilometers as the crow flies from the house. Nevertheless, it takes six hours trip from my door to that of a hotel downtown Cebu. There is also a flight between Dumaguete and Cebu-Mactan and it would reduce the travel time of at least three hours. However, my son's future company, which has so far only expenditures and not revenues, cannot afford to pay it yet.
Therefore, I left the house on October 22 at 6:00 am and arrived in the second city of the Philippines at noon.
After lunch, I went to the Chamber of Commerce to find some contacts and I was surprised to get only seven names. I left the building at 2 pm and I started my quest by visiting a company not far away. There I met a woman to whom I expressed my wishes but she replied that she was sorry but their factory was working for a single customer. She also asked me how I have had their address and I said it was through the Chamber of Commerce. She pointed out that I had not been in the right place and that it was better to go to the DTI (Department of Trade and Industry). She asked one of her employees to accompany me there and when I wanted to pay the taxi, my companion told me that her boss had already taken care of that. How kind!
At the DTI, they handed me a list of over 25 contacts with the largest number being in the Mactan economy zone near the International Airport. Well, I had some job for the next few days but as it was only 4 pm and I still had time to visit another company in Mandaue.
I finally found the place after great difficulty. As usual, the welcome was warm but you should have seen the poorly lit, poorly ventilated rooms, with stairs and boxes everywhere. Appalling working conditions for the shirt makers. My request seemed to interest them but I never heard about this company anymore because probably because their designer who wanted only PDF files could not open my Illustrator and PDF Pro files. No regrets as they could not even use a computer.  
The next day at 8 am, I took a taxi towards Mactan.
At this stage of my narrative, I must make a small digression on taxi drivers of the city of Cebu. Generally, they are honest and it is a refreshing change from those of Manila but though they know the direction this is rarely the case for the street, much less the exact address. Often they asked me to give them guidance or some landmarks. Hence, I developed a modus operandi that is once I got around the area, to call up the place where I had an appointment and then ask the person to guide the driver to the final destination. Funny is not it? Imagine what would happen in France and Paris in particular with a cabby no knowing a street. However, here the fact, that an average fare rarely exceeds two to four Euros kind of counterbalances the inconvenience.
I finally arrived in the economy zones of Mactan and at my first plant. There, no way to enter blocked by a security service who wanted at all costs to know the name of my contact. I finally got mad telling them that I had no name since I was here for the first time.
I threatened to go to the other factory just in front but they told me that it was theirs too. Finally, after many phone calls, I got an appointment in another place and to get there I rode one of their shuttles that stopped at least in five of their plants to give or take documents. At last I was kindly greeted by a manager who listened to me attentively and politely and then told me that they were producing 2 million pieces per month and the minimum order was 100 000 units. How dumb I looked with my 200 T-shirts I wanted. He still took the time to point out on my list a few companies that manufactured in smaller quantities.
After that, I took a Jeepney to go in another factory. Again, I was well welcome but the director told me that they were only producing here and that the main and commercial offices were in Hong Kong and therefore she will forward there my request. I had another surprise in the afternoon as the main office of the next factory was in Taiwan. The last plant of the day I visited had its main office in Shanghai.
I had never imagined before that nowadays part of the garments "Made in China" was produced in the Philippines and this was confirmed the next day in Indonesia as well. Yet it is still all business between Chinese. Whether they are from mainland China, Hong Kong or Taiwan, they do business with Filipinos or Indonesians of Chinese extraction.
I finally understood after a first initiatory journey that I had to turn instead to the workshops of artisans and I finished after four days by finding what I was looking for while still not knowing that it would be in Dumaguete 30 minutes from the house where we would ultimately find our garments manufacturer. How Ironic, but I would still be frustrated if I had not started my research in Cebu.

(My son's company hooded T-shirts)